Sierra Club honors Atkins

SACRAMENTO  Sierra Club California will honor San Diego Assemblywoman Toni Atkins with one of its highest awards, citing her pending legislation to give the Coastal Commission broader authority to directly fine violators rather than pursue a lengthy case in court.

The Democrat’s measure is pending on the Senate floor and could be taken up as early as Monday.

“Sometimes a fine is the only meaningful consequence for breaking the law,” Atkins said earlier this year. “The current rate of violations is accruing faster than the Commission can resolve them, leading to a growing and unsustainable backlog of cases. California only has one coastline, and damage to the coast can’t always be undone.”

Her Assembly Bill 976 has drawn sharp rebukes from business interests, many of whom already regard the Coastal Commission as too arbitrary when it comes to issuing permits for development along California’s 1,100 miles of coast.

The legislation “creates a bounty hunter mentality among Coastal Commission staff (and) would strip alleged violators of due process afforded by the courts,” states a joint letter signed by various associations representing the housing, oil, aquaculture and agricultural industries.

Sierra Club California issues its “Byron Sher” award in honor of the retired senator, generally considered a champion of the environment. Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, also is being honored.

“Assemblymember Atkins has combined diplomacy, smarts and a steely will to successfully move this important bill through the Assembly and on to the Senate floor,” Kathryn Phillips, the club’s state director, said in the announcement. “If she succeeds... the Coastal Act will be enforced as voters intended when they passed it more than 40 years ago.”